2018 Best of Design Award for Facades: Amazon Spheres

Designer: NBBJ
Location: Seattle

Designed by NBBJ in cooperation with Vitro Architectural Glass, the Amazon Spheres are the crown jewel of Amazon’s $4 billion urban campus in downtown Seattle. Composed of three interconnected geodesic domes, the project covers 70,000 square feet of meeting, relaxation, and collaborative space. The Amazon Spheres also house 40,000 exotic and endangered plants and trees from around the world, including Australian tree ferns, African aloe trees, mosses, flowers, and succulents. Glazed in Vitro’s Low-E Solarban Solar Control 60 Low-E coating, the tallest of the metal-framed spheres accommodates five stories of workspace. The two other temperature-controlled domes contain rivers, waterfalls, and tropical gardens. In total, the project incorporates 620 tons of steel and 2,643 Vitro Starphire low-iron glass panels.

Honorable Mentions 

Project Name: The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center at Cornell Tech
Designer: Morphosis
Location: New York

Project Name: Museum Garage
Designers: WORKac, J. Mayer H., Nicolas Buffe, Clavel Arquitectos, and K/R
Location: Miami